I think we all have urges to do something for others. They’re not “all the time” urges, and they’re certainly not “anyone” urges, but we get the urge at times to help someone out.

It might be someone you don’t know, or maybe a neighbour. It could be some cause that stirs you to do something.

It might happen often, or those times may be few and far between.

But when it happens, we can’t help but do something; the urge is overwhelming and we have to act.

I remember years ago starting out on our first day of vacation. We had our van loaded and we were towing our travel trailer to our vacation spot.

We probably weren’t more than twenty minutes on the highway when I saw smoke in my side mirror. I quickly pulled over and found that one of the trailer tires was shredded to bits.

We were on the side of a major highway; it was early morning with people in a hurry to get to work. You could feel the trailer sway when the cars and especially the trucks whipped by.

I started to change the tire on the side of the road and probably was no more than five minutes in and a guy from our church pulled up behind me to help.

He had seen it all, driven to the next exit, turned around and, in order to get to us on the divided highway, drove back past us in the opposite lanes, turned around at the closest exit and came to help.

Amazing! That’s that urge that causes us to do something for others; when everyone else is flying by, we have the urge to do something.

This week I got to spend one night at both my daughter’s and son’s places.

There is something about helping out your kids that you can’t resist doing, even though they are on their own, and have jobs to support themselves.

I found myself looking for ways to help out. What did they need? What could I do to give them a hand?

My daughter needed to get a few groceries the night I stayed with her, and though I added a few things of my own to the basket, I had this urge to pay for it all.

She’s my daughter; I’ve been providing for her her whole life and it’s difficult to turn that off now that she’s an adult.

The next night I had dinner with my son and, of course, I paid for dinner. But back at his place I noticed there were a few things he needed. Before I left in the morning I hit up a hardware store and Walmart and got him set up.

These were all things they could have done themselves but I had this urge in me to help.

It happens sometimes; it happens with family and sometimes with complete strangers.

The bottom line is those urges make a real difference to people. We should never ignore them.

Here’s the thing: After God created people, it took no time before we rejected Him for our selfish wants and desires … and humanity has been on that path ever since. Yet even though we rejected Him, God had the urge to help us, to bring us back to Him. We call that love. He acted on that urge by sending His Son, Jesus, to die for our rejection of Him – our sin. That urge not only can help us now, it can help us for eternity. Aren’t you glad God acted on His urge to do something for others? Reflect on that.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: When was the last time you acted on the urge to do something for others? Leave your comments below.